Tag 20 - Flamingo Island

Day 20 (August 25, 2023)

We spend the morning in the villa and in the pool as it is very hot again today. The suitcases are largely packed. The red cuddly tiger seems to suspect that we want to leave and is planning to sit or lie down in his daughter's bed.

As a token of love, he brings a huge iguana to the pool...

I have no idea how he managed to jump over the wall with the huge thing in his mouth, all I hear is a slap, then he lies iguana motionless in front of the lounger.

I immediately jump up and grab the cuddly tiger and put him in the house, then I check on the iguana. He seems to be in shock because I don't see any injuries. I take him outside with a dustpan, where he immediately jumps off the shovel and runs away. Ok, good for now. What we have mice for, here we have iguanas and geckos. Just yesterday we had to watch as the cheeky tiger skillfully caught the little geckos sitting above the lamps in the dark from the wall with his paw and immediately ate them. Afterwards we turned off the lights on the wall... whereupon he crashed our card game...

Well, now the cuddly tiger is lying in his daughter's bed and getting his tummy scratched. At least now there's no iguana for breakfast!

By midday our suitcases were packed and we processed the rest of our purchases into a varied lunch. We can't take anything with us to the hotel - apart from the snacks (well hidden in our suitcase, of course).

Before Fred and Lia come to us to say goodbye, their dogs stand in front of our door and greet us with their tails wagging. The two of them visited us several times during the week, which now solves our cat problem: cuddly tomcat runs out the back door before the dogs can see him. Bye, sweet cuddly cat!!! Hope you have a nice home here...

At 12 p.m. we leave the villa and drive to the Super Food supermarket to replenish our supply of drinks. We're in the hotel from today, so we can't take much with us anyway, but I would like to have one or two bottles/cans of sparkling water in the room!

On the way to the Renaissance Aruba Resort, we stop at a gas station and fill up the car again. When we picked it up, we asked whether we could have the rental car for 2-3 hours longer, but this was probably not possible due to a booking. The husband therefore asks what the current state of things is so that we can plan the day better tomorrow.

A friendly voice on the phone tells us that we can have the rental car by 6 p.m. tomorrow - WITHOUT additional costs!!!

We are excited. But this is nice! We are happy and say that we only need the car until 3 p.m. and then we will bring it back. Oh great, I'm happy about that. More time tomorrow for the island trip!

At the gas station I notice that there is the I love Aruba sign directly opposite. How practical! So quickly go over to the other side and take a photo 😊

We continue to theRenaissance Hotel . We check in and are lucky, our room is already ready and we can move into it straight away. As a welcome there is a bottle of water for everyone, as well as a “wristband” with which we then have access to Flamingo Island (Renaissance Island) . That was the only reason to go to the hotel here for one night.

The Flamingo Island otherwise costs just €125 per person!!! For ONE visit, of course. So that would be €500 for the four of us!!! Only for access to the island - food and drinks are also included. No way!!!!

So it was almost a bargain to book thehotel room for one night (family room, 1 double room and 1 sofa bed) for a mere €490…. But: it gives us the opportunity to go to the island TWO times - which would otherwise cost a total of €1000 WITHOUT a hotel. Incomprehensible….

But good – we know it from Dubai. We always stayed at Atlantis the Palm for 1 night so that we could have free entry to the water park for 2 days.

After we have stowed our luggage in the room (much smaller than in the pictures online), we pack the beach bag and head to the island. There is a welcome cocktail in the hotel lobby. Yummy. We walk through the gardens, past the pools to the lagoon, where we sit briefly on the loungers and drink our cocktail. An iguana immediately scurries out of the bushes. He seems to be after the fruit in our cocktail...

We continue around the complex to the harbor, where the pier for Flamingo Island is located. Our wristbands are checked and we also have to provide the room number. Then the boat comes and we go to the island. The journey takes approximately 15 minutes.

Beforehand, we were a bit disappointed that we and Sohnemann were not allowed to go to the “adult” beach, Flamingo Beach, where the flamingos are supposed to be. He was only allowed to go there at 10 a.m. to feed the flamingos. During this hour, “children” are tolerated on the Adult Beach.

I take a quick turn with my daughter to take a look at the Adult Beach and see the flamingos. Disillusionment, because there are only 3 flamingos above the beach at a waterhole, and there is not a single flamingo in the bay. Hmm, ok – where are the flamingos???

We walk back to Iguana Beach (everyone is allowed to go there), where our husband and son are queuing at the towel stand where we get free towels. Here we directly encounter a handful of flamingos that run across our path. More flamingos are standing and sleeping in a green area, and there are around 15 flamingos in the water in Iguana Bay. Haha, perfect! So who needs a Flamingo Beach when they're all at Iguana Beach! 😉

Of course there are iguanas too. They dart around between the loungers on the beach and sit apart under the bushes.

We find 4 loungers at the front of the beach and, armed with a camera, we go flamingo hunting.

We get a handful of flamingo food from the feeder for 25 cents and run into the water with the flamingos. However, we are sobering to discover that the animals are not hungry for the food and prefer to fish for something else in the seaweed. Every now and then one of them curiously grabs the food on the palm of their hand, but they aren't really hungry.

We can still take photos.

After we were with the flamingos, we got a “water mattress” to float around on in the bay. But it's actually not ideal for swimming here. There is a lot of seaweed and algae, as well as the remains of flamingos and pelicans in the water. So I prefer to stay on the lounger after a cool shower and am promptly visited by an iguana and a huge hermit crab. The flamingos also run around between the loungers. It's fascinating when a flamingo suddenly struts past a few centimeters 😊

In the afternoon we treat ourselves to a cocktail and enjoy the sunset before the last boat for the day heads back to the harbor. Since there is a wedding taking place on the island this evening and the tables and stage have been set up since lunchtime, there is a particular hurry to get the day tourists off the island. We weren't paying attention and bang - our lounger disappeared on the pile of loungers...

Okay, so pack everything up and head for the boat. It's getting really crowded here because everyone wants to get off the island at the same time. We are lucky and make it into the second boat that goes to the island.

In the evening we want to walk towards downtown Oranjestad, where we saw many shops, bars and shops on the way to the hotel. The disillusionment: everything here is closed! Declaration from a shop owner: “No cruise ship today!”

Great! So there's only something going on here when a ship docks and the 2,000-4,000 tourists make the city unsafe. So we walk back to the small shopping center right in front of the hotel. There are bars and restaurants here too. We decide on the Italian restaurant “ Casa Tua Pizzeria ” and eat delicious pasta and pizza, plus there is live music in the pavilion opposite. Great atmosphere, we like it.

In the background the “CHOGGO” party buses make their rounds. On board: people who party and drink hard, dance and sing. Well then have fun!

After dinner we walk through the small market on the side street of the Plaza and then go back to the hotel.

Tomorrow is the last day – sniff – we still have to pack…